


The Breaking Point

by TheGuydude



Series: Lumity Cinematic Universe [6]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst between Luz and Amity, F/F, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:55:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25818439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGuydude/pseuds/TheGuydude
Summary: Luz finally returns to the Boiling Isles and reunites with Amity, but their relationship is once again torn apart by a raging war between Emperor Belos and the growing rebellion.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Boscha/Willow (The Owl House)
Series: Lumity Cinematic Universe [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1848895
Comments: 23
Kudos: 140





	1. Emerald Seeds

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this entire chapter in just over a day and the outline for a series in two hours, so if it isn't perfect, I'm sorry, but I hope I conveyed my story well enough, but Grom just inspired me enough to rapidly finish my Emira and Viney fanfic and then begin this, and I don't have enough self control or patience to continually revise this

Luz Noceda crept across the thick branches with the grace of a cat, carefully maintaining balance and keeping her target firmly in her line of sight. Amity Blight, protégé of one of the most powerful witches on the Boiling Isles (and probably one of them at this point), was strolling home, several bright textbooks levitating above her head. Having fallen into a pattern and distracted by the fact that her hair was undone and with longer roots, Luz didn't notice the absence of a branch in front of her. However, she did notice when her foot suddenly felt nothing below it and suddenly hit a branch with a reverberating ‘crack!’ Luz, using what little she picked up from gymnastics and cheerleading, effortlessly swung herself around a tree limb and hid under dark leaves, just as Amity went on to alert. 

The teal-haired witch pulled out a long silver-white staff, a raven-like palisman perched atop it, and slowed her pace, eyes sliding over every tree as she walked. At that moment, her impatience and longing, which had been steadily growing, finally outweighed her desire to surprise Amity. The ground only seemed 5 feet-ish below her, and she could easily handle a landing from 5 feet! Without devoting anymore time to the thought, she eagerly wound herself up like a spring and launched herself into the air.

The moment her feet left the tree, Luz realized how much of a mistake she had made. The ground was probably closer to 10-15 feet below her, which would definitely have to hurt, and Amity jabbed her staff out at her flying attacker. Luz winced and braced herself for being impaled when she felt a light tap. ‘Am I dead? Did it kill me so quickly I didn’t even notice?’ She wondered, tentatively lifting an eyelid. Amity’s staff was poking her in the stomach and had her frozen in mid-air.

“WHO ARE Y- Luz?!” Amity drew a spell circle and dropped Luz to the ground. “Hello!” Luz shouted eagerly.

“LUZ?!” Luz wrapped her up in a big hug. “AMITY!”

Amity seemed to struggle and protest for a moment before giving up and melting into Luz’s loving arms. “I love you,” Luz whispered. She could feel how much Amity needed the hug and decided not to break apart until Amity was ready, holding on tight. After a few minutes, Amity finally let go, feeling like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

“You’re back!” Amity exclaimed, grinning wide.

“I AM! My mom said that I could hang out here again this summer!” Luz’s mother had found out about the Boiling Isles when her camp money had returned with a note that said they had no idea who Luz Noceda was. Luz had sheepishly explained the whole story, and, when her mother didn’t believe her, discovered that glyphs work in the human realm, proving her story. Over the school year, her mother had seen how changed (for the better) Luz was from the experience, and allowed her to go back over the summer (and maybe longer), on the condition that she would have to go to Hexside during her time there.

“Will you be able to stay longer? I don’t like having to say goodbye every three months and then have to wait nine months to see you again.”

Luz smiled. “My mom said she would think about it!” Amity kissed her and started walking again. “So, what have I missed on the Boiling Isles?”

They walked home in idle chatter, only to be greeted by Edric and Emira, with expressions of- what was that, agony? Rage? No, that was sorrow on their faces. “Amity, we’re so sorry.”

“I’m here too!” Luz chimed in, having no ability to read a room. “What are you sorry for?”

“You didn’t hear?”

“Hear what?” Amity asked softly, knowing something bad was about to happen.

“Lilith is- she’s- Lilith has- she is- Lilith was-“ Edric stammered, struggling to get the message across, although Emira had no such problem. “Lilith was killed by a rebel insurgence.”

Luz and Amity gasped. Luz knew that Amity and Eda cared about Lilith, and by extension, she did too. “N-no!” Amity murmured, tears welling behind her eyes. Edric and Emira nodded sadly. “The Emperor’s Coven reported that she was ambushed and fought off the attackers, but died in the process.”

Amity gagged and stepped inside. “I-I need to go,” Luz said, wanting to be there in Amity’s time of need but knowing that she couldn’t help and Eda needed her more. Emira waved her away in understanding, although Amity gave no response at all.

Luz burst through the door of the Owl House. “Eda, are you okay?”

“Of course I am, kid, why wouldn’t I- LUZ, YOU’RE BACK!” Luz embraced her mentor. “I’m sorry to ruin your happiness, but I have some news.” Luz sucked in a deep breath.

“Lilith is dead.” She whispered to the older witch, heart racing. “Really?”

Luz nodded somberly. “The Emperor’s Coven reported that Lilith was ambushed by a rebel team and fought them off, but died trying. I don’t know how true the story is, but that’s what I was told.”

\----------------

“Amity, please,” Luz begged, tears streaming down her face. “Don’t do this. Don’t leave me.”

“I-I’m sorry, Luz, I love you. This is for your own good.” Amity responded, through her own sobs. “I know you may not see it, but the Emperor- he-he keeps the peace in the Boiling Isles. The rebels killed Lilith, who knows what they are willing to do to enforce- to create anarchy? If you aren’t going to join us, and I’m never going to join them, this is going to need to be goodbye.”

“Amity, the Emperor locks away magic! He takes away the rights of his citizens and lies to the people for his own gain! He forces the people to obey unfair laws and follow a broken system! Don’t trust him! PLEASE, at least consider it!”

Amity gritted her teeth and teleported away with a spin of her staff. “I love you,” Luz whispered into the empty space where Amity had stood. 

\----------------

Two weeks have passed since that horrible day, and the Emperor’s Coven has officially declared war against the growing rebellion. The rebellion happened to be currently having a secret meeting inside the Owl House. “Rebels, let’s get down to business! The Emperor’s Coven is very powerful, and this will not be an easy war! By joining us, you will be putting yourself in serious danger. Are you all completely, absolutely certain you will fight with us? There is no going back from here.” Luz announced.

The rows of heads all nodded and agreed. “Good! Let’s take down an Emperor! This is just like Star Wars! Eda, what’s our plan?” Eda produced a huge map of the Boiling Isles and hung it from the wall so everybody could see. “Listen up, kiddos, because I am only going to say this once. The Emperor’s Coven does not need to lock the powers of its members to make them stronger because they are drawing power from nine different towers, each stationed throughout the Boiling Isles.”

Nine thumbtacks appeared in her hand, each matching the color of the nine tracks. Eda flung them onto the map. “Each of these towers is somehow drawing power from the Isles, and each one is heavily guarded.” She placed a tenth thumbtack near the center of the Isles. “This is where the Emperor lives. The magic of the Boiling Isles naturally flows here, so this is where all witches will be at their most powerful.”

“What I propose is we take each tower individually to gain access to the magic held within and then use that magic to force Emperor Belos out of power. By taking the towers, we also cut them off from Emperor Belos, turning his tower into an average location.” Eda demonstrated by animating a little cutout of an army, making it float around and beat up the thumbtacks. “See, this is us!” She seemed quite proud of it.

Luz nodded. “Rebels, here’s what we’ll do.” She placed a finger on the green thumbtack. “Plant Tower. All plant magic and flora will be at their strongest here, and some of our most powerful witches will be able to take advantage of the plants that naturally inhabit the area.” Luz glanced at Willow, who blushed. “And one last thing. Take all living Guardsman captive.” She said, she struggling to stay logical and cool.

The witches nodded, some finding what they must do odd, but agreeing nonetheless. “Okay, rebels, raise your hands if you are proficient in Plant magic!” Several hands shot up from the crowd. “Everybody who can control Fire spells, raise your hands as well!” A few more hands shot up. “The Guards will be using fire magic, as it can burn through plants easily, so I want everybody who’s hands are up to attack the Plant Tower!”

They readily agreed and dispersed from their crowd-like form to idly chatter and prepare. Luz took a moment to breathe. “Once this is over, you can be with her.” She whispered to herself, reassuringly, before weaving into the crowd, hunting down a magenta-haired, three-eyed witch. “Hey, Boscha.”

“Ugh, hey, human.”

“So, I have a favor. Willow is a very powerful witch, but I know she has a tendency to lose control, so I need you to come with us.”

“Why me?”

Luz raised an eyebrow. “I think you know exactly why.” Boscha blushed. “I don’t know what you are thinking, but I am not g-,” Luz cut her off with a wave of her hand. “I don’t really care what you are and what you aren’t, because I’m clearly not someone to be judgmental about that, and because Willow clearly likes you and it seems an awful lot like you like her too, so you’re probably the best person to bring her back down to earth. Therefore, you are coming with us.”

Boscha’s blush deepened, but she nodded. “Perfect! I think the strike force is ready!” Luz exclaimed, a small smile on her face.

\----------------

“Alright, forces, move in!” Luz whispered to the team, who were all crouched behind logs in thick, tall grass. Flowers sprouted intermittently throughout in wide patches, bursting with vivid colors. The plant rebel force, who consisted of about 15-20 people, shot up from behind the logs and leapt over them, vines and flowers suddenly lashing out at the 10 or so guards who stood in a ring around the tower. The Plant Tower was tall and covered in vines and flowers that twisted over gray stone bricks.

The startled Guards fired back with huge spears of white-hot flame that easily sliced through the plants. Luz pulled out a double glyph of her own creation, a combination of a binding and a plant spell, and flicked her wrist, sending the card slicing into the chest of a Guard. Upon impact, flowers and vines burst over him, slamming him into the wall and tightening his hands against the wall.

Luz dodged another column of scarlet flame and darted to the tower, slamming another glyph against a guard’s chest and vaulting the rapidly sprouting vines to ram her feet sharply into the head of another guard, knocking them out. Suddenly, a thin spear of flame struck her back, knocking her to the ground and burning a hole into the back of her hoodie. 

“DAMN IT! THIS WAS MY ONLY CAT-EAR HOODIE THAT STILL FIT!” Luz screeched through the burning pain in her back and spun around to find vines already curling over him and tearing him to the ground. Luz bounded forward and kicked him in the gut out of spite. “That is for my hoodie!” Another blast of lightning shot next to her ear, sending her whirling around. “Oy! That bolt almost hit me! Rude!” Luz tapped a glyph, materializing a block of ice, and chucked it into the Guard’s head, instantly knocking him out. “That had to hurt,” she muttered, realizing she had a habit of witlessly quipping during battle.

Luz finally scanned the tower for any remaining guards, giving her a chance to catch her breath. All of the outer guards were down, she realized with joy surging into her heart. “This war’s looking a lot more winnable by the second!” She muttered under her breath as she re-joined the team. There were a few people with torn and charred shirts, one or two minor burns, and two unconscious rebels, but the fight had ended very well. 

“Everyone, take a breather!” Luz used an Ice Glyph to wall off the entry and give them some time to think, and then found Willow and Boscha, who had done very little. “Willow, can you take control of the vines and disrupt the Guards inside?”

Willow nodded. “I can, but what if I lose control? What if someone gets really hurt?” Boscha grabbed her hand. “That’s why I’m here!”

Luz grinned. “You guys remind me of me and-,” Her joy rapidly faded when she thought about how she was going to end the sentence, although Willow and Boscha got the message and blushed, “Nevermind. Willow, I need you to do that. I promise you, Boscha will be by your side the whole time.” At the last part, Willow smiled and stepped up to the tower, placing a hand gently on the vines. Her eyes began to glow as she crumpled to her knees, Boscha carefully sitting next to her and placing a hand on Willow’s shoulder.

Willow’s eyes flickered and then intensified, becoming solid green, as the vines came alive, tearing apart the stone bricks and beginning to plunge inside. “Alright, break over, everyone! Attack!” Luz kicked in the icy wall, shattering it like glass, and rushed inside. Wooden stairs spiraled up the stone walls, meeting the stone floor of a story above them. The guards were angrily firing blasts of fire and lightning at the attacking plants, too distracted by the vines to notice the rebels, who quickly took down each guard using their own plants.

Luz gestured for a few people to follow her up the stairs, many of which were being destroyed by vines. She carefully bounced over each vine and flower and slowly made her way up the stairs, dodging attacking vines and eventually reaching the second floor. There were less vines up here, so four of the seven guards weren’t occupied. “Dang it.” She muttered when they saw her and alerted the others about the intruders.

Luz slid a glyph across the ground and slapped it, sending a long, pointed pillar of ice slamming sharply into the Guard’s chin and knocking him into the wall with a loud thump. She then ducked under two streams of fire and slid in front of the Guards, kicking out their legs and knocking them down. They blasted back, but without sight they missed and Luz was easily able to drop a glyph in between them and bind them together with vines.

The second team-member was finally able to jump out and fire his own blast of fire into a Guard, and a third quickly leapt out and whipped another Guard with a vine, before using it to bind them and another together. The last standing Guard saw how outmatched he was and leapt from the window-cove, where Luz could hear him attempt to slow his fall with streams of fire before being slammed against the wall by one of Willow’s vines.

The third and fourth floors were even easier to capture, and Luz reached the final floor, where the stones were extremely worn down, huge holes appearing in the walls where vines were. There were only four guards at the top, and two were already captured by Willow’s vines. “Nice one, Willow!” Luz flung a glyph at one of the free guards and sidestepped a pillar of fire into a vine. It wrapped around her and tore her through the wall, tearing stones free.

Thankfully, it had a tight grip and she didn’t fall, but she could feel it was slowly slipping and its thorns were tearing at her skin. “Willow, you can stop now!” 

Willow didn’t hear her call, but Boscha did, and she shook and slapped Willow repeatedly, but to no avail. Luz was completely out of its grip and was hanging on with her hands when Boscha kissed Willow, green instantly vanishing from her eyes and the vines tightening back into locked positions. The vine Luz was gripping pulled back into position, allowing Luz to finally reach and grab onto the uneven stone bricks and descend the walls.

Her hands were slick with sweat and couldn’t hold on much longer when she finally reached a window on the third floor, allowing her to swing in and walk out. “Hooray!” Luz cheered to the waiting crowd. “We took Plant Tower! One down, eight to go!”

They began to celebrate as Luz assessed the damage for a second time. Nobody seemed much more hurt than before the siege on the inside, although many people had cuts and bruises. “Oh crap!” She muttered when she realized how cut-up she was. There were about twelve cuts total across her arms and body, and a bruise was forming on her arm where she was shoved through the bricks, but they all appeared minor enough that they would simply prove to be inconveniences.

After a few minutes of idly chatting with friends and trying to find healing glyphs, Luz realized what had been nagging at her the whole time. “Willow, come here!” Willow walked inside the new rebel acquisition, dragging Boscha with her. “Something’s been bugging me ever since we entered this tower and started our attack, and I just realized what it was.”

“Well, what was it?”

“Where are the plants?” It seemed like such a simple question to Boscha, who took it at face value, but Willow instantly recognized what Luz meant. “OH MY GOD YOU’RE RIGHT!”

“Um, is nobody going to clue me in here? There are plants right outside!”

“Yes, but those are alive! Think about it! All magic comes from something, right? Usually it’s magic bile, but if they’re tapping the magic from here, they must be draining the energy from somewhere! But look at the plants outside! They are bursting with life, so they can’t be the source!”

Boscha gasped. “OH MY GODS, YOU’RE RIGHT!” Willow snorted as Luz began to pace. 

“What if this was a fake location to throw us off?” Boscha pointed out.

“No, this is definitely where the plant magic is concentrated, I can feel it. It’s like- it’s like the ground is bursting with magic!”

Luz pointed at her. “Exactly. WHERE’S THE MAGIC?” She suddenly realized what was off. She stepped back and forth a few times and had a second eureka moment, slapping a glyph onto the wall. A spear of ice shot from the wall, plunging into the stones she had stood on moments before and causing a wide circle to splinter into nothing, pebbles falling with thumps. “Well, would you look at that! I knew something didn’t feel right, and I was right again! My footsteps, which are always loud and sound the same, sounded different! There’s SOMETHING UNDER THE FLOOR, AND I AM ON FIRE!” Luz pumped a fist into the air in self-congratulation.

Willow and Boscha gasped again. “I should’ve noticed it! The ground is practically screaming with magic!”

Luz smirked. “Come on down!” The human leapt backwards into the unknown with a loud thump. “Ow.” Willow and Boscha gingerly leapt down after her, scanning the basement-like environment and pulling Luz to her feet. Sconces sat in the dusty, illuminated dirt walls, but none of them were lit. The room’s light was instead coming from a huge glass cylinder that emerged from the ground and was almost full of a glowing, neon liquid. “Whoa, this must be Plant Magic Bile! I wonder what they’re using it for?”

Willow touched the cool glass and yelped. “What’s wrong?”

“That-that-that’s not magic bile! Those are seeds!”

Luz and Boscha gasped as Willow drew a circle in the air, thin vines emerging from the glass in the shape of a closed tube. Willow set a hand under it and twisted the tube open, and, true to her word, seeds poured out. Each was no larger than a walnut, and they quickly had a fairly large pile in her hand. Willow twisted the vine-like lid back shut. “See?” She carefully pinched one and flung it at the wall, where a huge flower suddenly blossomed.

Boscha gasped for a third time in awe and wonder. Willow nodded, pouring the rest into her pocket. “Why would the Emperor’s Coven need so much plant power? They never even use plants!”

Luz shook her head, eyes wide. “I don’t know why, but I do know that that does not bode well for us.”


	2. Perfect Harmony

Amity glared at herself in the mirror, sulking. ‘You have terrible decision-making skills,’ she hissed at her reflection, thinking about the events that had brought her there. Suddenly, her thoughts were broken up by the sound of a creaky floorboard, sending her twisting around to see who it was. “Oh, it’s only you.” She muttered, seeing it was only her mentor. After a moment, she realized what she was seeing and, after gasping in surprise, shouted, “You’re dead!”

“Oh, Amity, don’t yell.” Lilith murmured, softly, stepping closer. “I thought I raised you not to.”

“You didn’t raise me! You were just my mentor! My parents raised me!”

Lilith sighed and seemed about to say something, but decided against it and remained silent. After a few minutes in total silence, Amity saw that Lilith wasn’t going to talk, so she took the opportunity to point out, “You still haven’t explained about why you’re here.”

“As you’ve probably figured out by now, I’m dead.”

“Duh.”

“I don’t know why I’m here or how, all I know is that I was killed and was dead for a moment and then I was here! Heck, maybe I’m a ghost!”

Amity frowned sourly. “Ghosts aren’t real.”

“Well, unless you suddenly went insane, I am quite real. I thank you for that.”

“Thank me? Why?”

“Well, I clearly can’t interact with anybody else and I definitely didn’t do anything to bring myself back, so I assume you must’ve caused this somehow. Did you learn some sort of necromancing spell? Have you become an expert at Oracle magic, or held a séance?”

“No, no, and no. Maybe you’re a figment of my imagination that’s too in denial to accept your death?” 

“I think that I'm quite alive, so to speak, so I doubt that that's true. I am sure this will prove to be quite an interesting puzzle. However, we have important business to conduct, so let’s not spend too much time reuniting.”

“Business? What business could you possibly have?”

“I don’t have any, I'm dead. However, you clearly do! You have business to do! Unless you’re telling me there isn’t a war going on?”

“How do you know about the war? You were dead until,” She glanced at a clock, “I don’t know, thirty minutes ago!”

“I don't know, I just do."

“You’re useless.” Amity groaned, turning to a small map of the Boiling Isles that had ten thumbtacks in it and ripping out the green one with another groan.

“Why would you say something like that?! Now, could you toss that thumbtack here, I want to look at it.”

Amity threw it at Lilith, who burst into laughter when it passed through her. “That’s what you get.” She sang to Amity, who was not amused.

“Okay, okay, let’s actually get down to business.” Lilith sat on the bed next to Amity and looked at the map. “Well, the rebels took the Plant Tower, and they were led by Luz, so where are they going next?” Amity laid back. 

“I don’t know.”

Lilith poked her nose, although Amity couldn’t feel it. “Think, child. Become Luz subconsciously.” Amity closed her eyes, trying to put herself in Luz’s shoes and thinking about the glyphs. “They’d move in a circle!” She shouted, sitting up sharply with realization. Lilith understood what Amity meant and nodded. “Attagirl!” The ghostly mentor attempted to ruffle her hair, which did nothing but make Amity grin. “Thanks, Lilith.”

She scanned the map and imagined Luz drawing a glyph. “She always moves clockwise.”

Lilith nodded, understanding what Amity was saying without needing explanation. “From a tactical position, it would be smarter to take a tower adjacent to one they already have so it is easier to protect them both, and you're assuming she would go this way. Since we don't know if you're right or not, let's go alone.”

Amity placed a finger on the Tower directly under the Plant Tower, the Bard Tower. “She’s taking the Bard Tower!” Amity truly realized what that meant and burst from her room, grabbing her staff. “I see you’re putting Edgar to good use,” Lilith said with a warm smile as Amity slid onto the staff. “Edgar, go!” Lilith sat behind her, although Amity had to remind herself that Lilith's weight wouldn’t affect their flight at all. 

“Remember your fifth birthday?” Lilith reminisced.

“Of course I do,” Amity sighed, remembering that day. She had begged and begged Lilith for the chance to ride Edgar, her palisman, and had finally gotten her way. She had just taken off the ground and was surprisingly good at flying. That is, until a tree seemed to pop up out of nowhere in her way, sending them careening to the ground with a crash. Amity giggled at the memory. Lilith had helped her up and asked her if she wanted to try again, but Amity had said a firm no and ran the whole way home. She had a fear of palismen for a few months after that. “It was fun… Until the crash.” Lilith said dramatically, making Amity giggle again.

Suddenly, the trees they were carefully darting between seemed to vanish into a wide clearing, the tall Bard Tower appearing in front of her. “DAMN IT!” She shouted, kicking the stone wall after dismounting. They were too late, and all the guards were bound against the wall or unconscious. Amity’s heart suddenly fell when she realized she was not completely too late, seeing a flash of dark brown hair and round ears.

“Luz!” Amity called to her, her voice cracking. Luz wasn’t wearing her signature cat-ear jacket, instead wearing a long-sleeved yellow and black tee-shirt and was holding Owlbert. Luz spun around, and Amity could see her blink back tears. “Amity?” Luz readied a glyph.

“I think I ought to leave you two lovebirds to talk.”

“Oh, shut up!” Amity barked at her, only realizing afterwards how insane that must’ve sounded, but Luz didn’t seem to notice, or if she did, she didn’t seem to care.

“Amity, what are you doing here?”

“I came to stop you from doing something you might regret, but it seems I failed.”

Luz scowled. “I didn’t do something I might regret; I did something for the future of the Isles. Look at what he’s done! Emperor Belos cares too much about his own power to be a better ruler than none at all! Look at what he’s done so far in the war: he is not only the richest man on the Boiling Isles, but he essentially owns the Boiling Isles, and yet, the Emperor’s Guardsmen don’t have enough money or homes and are being forced to live with and be paid for by the citizens, many of whom cannot afford it!”

Amity hadn’t heard of that last part, and the coldness of Luz’s tone made her shiver. “Luz, he’s keeping the peace. The rebels killed Lilith! Who knows what else they’re capable of! I’m-we're doing this for you and me, for the future! Now, Luz, I’m going to give you one last chance to join us, or I’m going to have to take you in.”

Luz shut her eyes tightly for a moment, trying and failing to stop tears. “I think you and I both know the answer to that.” The glyph in Luz's hand was suddenly a fireball, and she hurled it at Amity, who quickly materialized a huge, purple shield. The human then jabbed Owlbert sharply into the earth, launching her at Amity. Her leg shot out, shattering the shield and catching Amity’s leg’s pressure point, sending her crumpling to the ground with a shriek of pain.

Luz's eyes went wide, shimmering with tears, but she forced herself to say, "Amity, I don’t want to hurt you. Please, just- do this for me.”

Amity felt her blood boil with rage as she fired a binding spell at Luz. “NEVER.” Luz dodged the glowing ribbon and placed a glyph onto Amity’s head and sharply jabbed it. Amity choked out a sob, her eyelids growing heavy, and barely managed to hear Luz whisper, “I love you,” before feeling sleep drag her away.

\---------------

Hours had passed when Amity finally awoke with a start and glanced around. She was laying, hidden, under thick bushes, her face being prickled by green leaves and her head propped up by something soft. Amity dragged herself onto her knees and looked down. Luz’s hoodie, which seemed to be in tatters, was curled up in a ball under her, and Edgar laying at her side. “Finally, you’re awake! Morning, sunshine!” Lilith was standing guard over Amity protectively, for all the good she could’ve done.

“You’re a wiseass, you know that?”

Lilith laughed. “That’s no way to speak to your elder!”

“You’re like two hours old! I’m your elder! Now help me up!”

“You know I can’t.”

“Exactly! That’s because I’m the live witch here, and I am therefore the one with control!” Amity shoved herself to her feet. Her left leg was surprisingly not sore at all, and after closer inspection, she realized Luz had given her a healing patch. Amity let out a low moan and perched herself on Edgar. “Do you want to break the news to the Emperor, or should I?”

“Really? You know, I prefer the living you. You’re currently a lot less business-like and serious.”

“That’s because I don’t have a reputation to uphold anymore. Now I can be as dry and sarcastic as I always wanted to be when I was alive. Speaking of reputations, I think we both know you just made a bad mistake to protect your own.” Amity, startled by her sudden seriousness, frowned. “What mistake?”

“You didn’t join Luz.”

“I’m protecting the Emperor! That’s what you would’ve wanted!”

“You know what decision I would’ve made.”

Amity sighed. “You aren’t real, though. You’re a figment of my imagination, so you are only here to tell me what I want, not what the real Lilith would’ve.”

“Assuming I am a figment of your imagination, which I steadfastly believe that I am not, why didn’t you join her? You just implied that you would’ve wanted to.”

Amity sighed again. “Because, unlike you, people expect things from me. I can't risk falling off my throne, so I could never go and fight with the rebels if I wanted to.”

\---------------

Amity steeled herself, gulped down a massive mouthful of air, and entered the throne room. It was huge, with smooth black walls of sparkling volcanic glass, a huge, golden throne sitting in the center. The throne was intricately engraved, curling and weaving in beautiful patterns, some segments darting like lightning, others weaving like licking flames, and still others bounding like live animals across the gold.

“E-Emperor Belos? The-the rebels took another tower.” Amity stepped forward into the light of the sharp scarlet light that seemed to flicker out from the throne itself as Emperor Belos came into view. He was wearing a long, sharp golden mask with two tall horns, and his figure was obscured by a half-brown half-white cloak that draped over him, gold trim breaking up the segments. 

“Which tower?” His low voice boomed out, seeming to fill every inch of the chamber.

“The Bard Tower. I attempted to stop them, but I arrived too late.” Amity decided not to tell him about the encounter with Luz, since it was sure to paint her in an unforgiving light. The Emperor nodded as if he knew what she was hiding, and Amity thanked the red light for masking an embarrassed blush she could feel rising to her cheeks.

“Organize a small strike team and send them to take back Plant Tower. Then we’ll see what the rebels have to say.”

Amity nodded and wordlessly left the chamber, faced with the daunting challenge of battle. “Hey again,” Lilith said, having waited outside. “I heard your conversation. You know, he never said you need to battle, just that you needed to send a team.”

Amity grinned, thankful for not-Lilith being around. “I think I see your purpose now.”

“Gee, thanks.”


	3. Traded Blows

Luz glanced around the huge room, making sure she had its attention, and slammed a finger onto a brown thumbtack. “This is the Construction Tower, where we will attack next. Because it’s next to Plant Tower, we’ll have an advantage.”

The rebels gave their scattered agreement, going silent when Luz resumed. “Unlike our previous two towers, the Guards actually use the magic of their tower to defend it. Now, Construction Magic focuses heavily on powerful attacks and brute force, which means we need our quickest and fastest to take them out. Who here thinks they would be well suited?”

After a moment, scattered hands slowly shot into the air. Luz separated them from the crowds and scanned them over. She found that she knew most of them, and they were all in good enough shpae 

\---------------

Luz’s team had hidden themselves outside the Construction Tower for final preparations and scouting out the location. It seemed to be the most stable of the towers they had seen, made primarily of stone bricks like the others, but with wooden planks, concrete bricks, and steel beams built haphazardly throughout, fortifying it against invasion. Luz noticed that the Guards’ usual monotone colors were broken up by small brown patches- construction glyphs, Luz realized. “They have Construction Glyphs, be careful to dodge a lot.”

“CHARGE!” Luz suddenly realized their mistake as a little Eda hologram appeared in front of her. “THE EMPEROR’S GUARD IS ATTACKING PLANT TOWER!” She blared, spinning like a little alarm, although Luz had no time to laugh at the image. “Everybody, stop!” She shouted, sending the sprinting rebels sliding in place and startling the Guards into vigilance. After a moment of confusion, the rebels realized that it wouldn’t be a great idea to stand in front of the Guards and sprinted back around Luz. 

A few of them scribbled circles into the air, a dome of vines, bark, oracle magic, and abomination slime swirling around them as Luz informed them of the invasion. “Eda sent us a message. The Emperor’s Guard is trying to take back Plant Tower!” Only moments after she was done talking, a huge chunk of vine and wood fell in, a fist bursting through. 

Luz grabbed the fist and pulled them in, using their own weight against them, and slammed a glyph into their back, binding them to the ground in a rapidly sprouting mess of vines. “I believe that’s our cue!” Luz burst out of the hole as the witches destroyed the glyph, snapping a glyph into a second attacking guard and sprinting away, beckoning the rebels after.

After a few minutes of running through forest and ignoring branches that whipped at her skin, Luz burst free of the trees and found herself at Plant Tower, taking a few moments to gather her breath. True to holo-Eda’s word, a crowd of Emperor’s Guardsmen were approaching the tower, who were, despite marching impeccably, moving quite slowly. Boscha and the rest of the rebels quickly arrived behind her, catching their own breath.

“Boscha, could you fog potion them?” Luz whispered, realizing the Guards hadn’t spotted them yet. Boscha nodded with a smirk and flung a glass bottle full of amber liquid at them, fog pouring like liquid as it swung through the air, eventually hitting the ground and shattering. As the liquid exploded, the entire team vanished into thick, lemony smoke. “Wait, why is that useful? Now we can’t see them!”

“Yes, but now we know where they are and they don’t.” Luz quietly crept up to the wafting smog, where the Guards were attempting to stumble out, and gestured for the rest of the rebels to follow. She carefully slid an ice glyph across the ground and into the fog, a huge crystalline column bursting from the top of the fog and flinging three guards with it, a fourth splayed atop.

Luz slammed a glyph down on two of the flung guards and dodged a spear of flame from the third, who had stumbled to his feet and was trying to guide the others out with his voice while fighting back. Before anybody could make it out, a huge dirt abomination covered in tiny sprouts lumbered over to him and flopped to the ground, concealing his whole body in a mound of dirt. “Nice guard-en, Jerbo!” She could hear Viney joke as, suddenly, rows of knives shot into the smog from behind her. Alarmed, Luz spun around, relieved to find that it was only Gus, Ed and Em messing around with illusions.

Luz could hear screams from guards inside, presumably from being impaled by knives, as the smoke finally faded into nothing and revealed the rebels to the attackers and vice-versa. Only a moment after the dissipation of the fog, pigeon-like creatures with pinkish hands for heads and only one eye swooped from the sky like bats, snatching and scratching at the Guards, who were unable to draw spells with fingers poking into their eyes.

Luz looked at Viney, who was clearly concentrating hard on keeping them attacking, and twisted back to face the battle. Barcus, who had begun fumbling with a small glass vial full of purple liquid and sitting near the front of the battle, finally managed to gulp it down, his eyes suddenly becoming purple spotlights that shone into the battle. Suddenly, a huge, violet silhouette engulfed him and leapt headfirst into the guards, slashing at them with huge claws.

Luz gasped in awe. “Whoa, Barcus!” Barcus winked at her proudly as a bolt of lightning sliced through the ghostly projection and disintegrated the spell, sending him falling to the ground with a pained bark. Angered, Luz sent a card into the battle to get revenge, but it instead struck one of Boscha’s potions and created a small, withered flower in a poof of purple smoke. 

The magenta-haired witch glared at Luz, but the distraction cost her, a white-hot column of flame blasting her in the shoulder. “Boscha!” Luz shouted to her as she seemed to fall to the ground in slow motion, shock written over her face.

Luz sprinted over to her, kicking out a Guard’s legs on the way and quickly patting out flames that were consuming Boscha’s sleeve. “Are you okay?” Luz asked softly, shaking Boscha’s head. Her eyes fluttered open angrily. “No, Willow is going to kill me, my second-favorite shirt is ruined, and my arm hurts!” Luz snorted, relieved. “Yeah, you’re fine.”

Luz yanked her to her feet and turned back to the battle. There were only a few Guards left, and they were now huddling behind a translucent dome. “Okay, everyone, we got this! Most of them are down, and the few that remain are scared!” She walked through the crowd, assessing the damage.

Barcus had a pretty large cut on his back, although the lightning seemed to have cauterized it, and Boscha had a pretty bad burn on her shoulder, but everyone else seemed fine. “Boscha, do you have any healing potions?”

Boscha nodded. “Good, I need you to tend to Barcus.” Boscha walked over and winced as she sat down. Luz turned away, a smile on her face, to see the guards removing their shields. “BACK TO BATTLE, REBELS!” Luz flung a glyph into the guards, instantly binding three together with vines that tore them to the ground.

Only three remained, and they were desperately firing blasts of flame at the rebels, who quickly took them down. “WHOO, YEAH!” Luz shouted, pumping her fist appreciatively. “ANOTHER SET OF GUARDS DOWN! At this rate, we’ll probably take out the entire Emperor’s Guard with only a few injuries.”

“Um, Luz?” Boscha hissed, catching her attention. Her voice, which was usually dripping with sarcasm and venom, seemed to be lacking its usual edge, replaced by fear and pain, oddly enough. Luz spun around and sat next to her. “Yes? What’s wrong?”

Boscha pointed at her arm, which dangled helplessly at her side. “I don’t think it was just a burn. L-Luz? I-I can’t fe-feel my arm.” Luz’s eyes widened. “It’s okay. We’ll get you patched up once we’re there. I promise, it will get better.”

Boscha nodded fearfully, her eyes shimmering. Luz turned to Barcus, who seemed to be in pain, but his injury looked a lot better than it had before, more like a small cut than an actual maiming, and gave a sigh of relief. “Barcus, I’m going to put you to sleep so we can close up your cut, okay?”

Barcus nodded as Luz placed a glyph on his head and gently pressed it, watching him fall asleep and begin to softly snore, before making her way to Viney. “Hey, could you get Puddles, bring these two to the Owl House and get them patched up?” Viney nodded and blew into the silent, sputtering whistle Luz had given her.

“Aww, you kept the Appa whistle!”

“Of course I did, it actually works!” Viney exclaimed proudly, a grin on her face as a griffin slowly descended on them. 

“Wow, really?” Viney nodded, grinning. Luz walked back over to Boscha. “Boscha, I’m going to have Viney take you and Barcus here to the Owl House so we can get you guys patched up, okay?” Boscha agreed and climbed onto Puddles’ back, Luz tossing Barcus up in front of Viney. “Safe travels!”

Puddles slammed her powerful wings into the ground and took off. “Now, it’s time for the rest of us to go home.” 

\---------------

Luz arrived to find Boscha and Barcus asleep, Barcus laying on a cot, and Boscha draped over Willow’s shoulder, her arm curled up inside a sling. Willow seemed to be dozing off too, a small smile on her face, and Viney was sitting, exhausted, next to them. “What happened to those two?! Boscha has a broken arm somehow that cut a nerve, and Barcus has an infection, internal bleeding, and a nasty cut! It took all of my magic to not let them get paralyzed or die!”

Luz’s eyes widened. “The Emperor’s Coven must be using some kind of dangerous magic that makes things like that more prone to happening, because I’ve seen (and caused) many minor injuries that looked like those, but none were anywhere near as threatening! Also, how will they do?”

Viney sighed and let her head roll back. “They’re both going to be completely fine. Boscha has a healing glyph on her arm that will help that nerve grow back together nicely, and Barcus’ internal bleeding has been completely stopped, and the infection is being purged from his system right now.”

Luz cracked a smile when she remembered a joke from a TV show she had seen. “But that’s where the blood’s supposed to be!”

Viney did not seem amused, and rolled onto a cot herself, slipping a pillow under her head. “I am going to take a nap and recharge, please do not have any more injuries while I sleep.” Luz giggled softly as the rest of the rebels began to slowly fill the room. “Shh, they’re sleeping.” She whispered to the newcomers.

After an hour or two of heated planning, Viney woke up, which meant to Luz they had an awake healer and could finally attack the Construction Coven. Willow and Boscha also woke up, and Boscha begged Luz to let her go on the mission, but both Willow and Luz refused. “I will not let you be injured again!” Willow had said firmly, grabbing Boscha’s good arm and yanking her back onto the chair, eyes flickering ominously with green.

\---------------

“THIS TIME, WE CHARGE!” Luz shouted, sending the rebels sprinting toward the Tower. This time, there was nothing to stop her from attacking. Thin, glowing red symbols slashed through the air and into the Guards, whistling in a high tune as they flew. Luz spun around to see Skara, who was wielding the Crystal Notes she had found in the Bard Tower. Luz smiled and winked at her, dodging a huge punch and slapping a glyph onto a Guard’s chest.

Luz darted and weaved around the Tower, expertly escaping punches and blows as she slammed glyphs into the Guards. Eventually, she reached her fifth guard and tapped her palm, nothing sliding into her hand. “No! Nononononononono!”

Luz, who had created a system to allow drawn Glyphs to slide into her hands, was out, which meant she was basically worthless. She sidestepped a wide swing and catapulted herself away, putting her brief time with cheerleaders to good use. Luz decided she could sit this one out and watch the rebels take down the outer guards. “Hey, Luz.”

Luz turned, surprised to hear her name mentioned, and saw Viney, who was leaning on a tree and watching. “Out of that fancy human magic?”

Luz nodded wordlessly. “Sit down, enjoy the show.” Viney gestured to the soft brown dirt around them.

Luz slid to the ground, crossing her legs and watching as her team entered the building with a sigh. “Viney? Do you promise not to judge me if I say something?”

Viney raised an eyebrow. “Sure, Luz. What is it?”

“I-I’m scared.”

“Scared of what?”

“Everything. I’m scared of us losing, I’m scared of losing someone, I’m scared of getting hurt, I’m scared of the Emperor, and I’m scared of the state of the world we live in. I wish I had Amity here with me and-and I-I wish I could honestly tell myself that everything is going to be okay.” 

Viney nodded, sliding to the ground next to her. “I am too, Luz. That’s just part of life. I wish I could tell you that too.” After a few moments of watching their forces in silence, Viney turned to look at the girl, and was surprised to find that Luz was curled up behind her knees, her body shaking with quiet tears. Viney awkwardly patted Luz’s shoulder and turned back to watch the fight, blinking back a few of her own tears.


	4. Visions of You

Amity tapped her foot against the silver floor. The Emperor’s Guard had not only lost a third tower to the rebels, but the strike team she sent had completely lost to the rebels. “Man, Belos is gonna be pissed. You got this, though! I believe in you!” Amity chuckled nervously, attempting to ignore her not-mentor’s warning, as a guard slowly swung open the vault-like door into the Emperor’s throne room. Steeling her nerves, Amity placed a foot onto the shiny black floor, leaving not-Lilith outside.

Amity opened her mouth and forced out a few squeaks, each a little louder and closer to words than the last, before finally managing to turn them into sentences. “E-Emperor Belos. The rebels fought off our small strike force and took Construction Tower. What should we do going forward?”

Amity forced her face into a neutral expression from one of proud joy as she again stepped into the red light that seemed to emanate in waves from the throne. She could almost hear Lilith shouting encouragement from outside as, after a moment of thinking, Emperor Belos’ low voice boomed out once again. “Send a second, larger force to defend Oracle Tower, and bring Warden Wrath.”

Amity’s eyes went wide, but she nodded in agreement. As if on cue, the huge, steely door began to wheel open behind her, revealing not-Lilith, who had a wide grin on her face and held two thumbs up. “That went well!” Amity nodded and smiled as she stepped out of the chamber and into the much brighter corridor. “All that’s left is Warden Wrath.” That turned out to be easier said than done.

“Why should I join this ‘strike force’?” Warden Wrath asked mischievously, clasping his hands together. Amity could practically hear the sly smirk on his face through the tone in his voice.

“Because the Emperor told you to!” Amity was infuriated. “That really should be enough!”

“Yes, but what do I have to gain here?”

“NOT GETTING IMPRISONED OR EXECUTED!”

“MMmm, not good enough.”

Amity groaned and banged her head against the table. “Could you guys hurry up here? They could’ve taken Oracle Tower by now!” Amity ignored Lilith’s words again, although she actually raised a valid point. Warden Wrath clearly needed to be bargained with if she wanted to stop the rebels, and luckily, there was an idea quickly forming in her head. 

“How about this: We will take all of the prisoners from one floor away and leave youmwith a powerful witch to keep on that floor? That way, you have a ton less prisoners to deal with!”

Warden Wrath considered the deal. On the one hand, he hated taking care of prisoners, but on the other, he hated fighting. But that powerful witch could be Eda, he thought dreamily and nodded. “I suppose I will. Where are we fighting?” Amity sighed with relief.

\---------------

Amity had a smirk on her face as her and the rows of Guards burst through the dark, closely knit trees, Oracle Tower suddenly rising into view. It was tall and thin, a huge stained-glass eye built into the tower peering down at them. The guards encircling the tower joined their forces, making the team even larger. All in all, there were probably about 50-60 guards, Warden Wrath, and of course, Amity Blight.

Approaching them were a surprised, unruly group of 20-30 rebels, and standing at the helm of them all was Luz Noceda, wearing the same outfit as the last time they had met: long-sleeved yellow-black shirt, same jean shorts and leggings, and same white shoes. Her eyes, though, seemed different. Colder.

“Amity.” A shiver ran down her spine at the icy bitterness of Luz’s tone, but she forced the jitters away.

Luz looked around her. The two teams seemed frozen in place, the air tense and dead-silent. ‘The calm before the storm,’ Luz almost muttered under her breath. She inhaled deeply as she felt something change, a miniscule shift in the air.

Suddenly, they were fighting. Barcus had resumed his massive Oracle state and leapt at Warden Wrath, meeting his swirling, shifting grey arms with huge, ghastly ones. Amity and Luz, however, didn’t really care about the battle, and were watching each other. As spells whizzed past the two of them, Amity scrawled her own spell circle, and suddenly they were sitting next to each other outside the battle.

“Hey, Amity.”

“Hi, Luz. It’s been a while since we’ve talked.”

“I know. I’ve really missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too. How’ve you been doing?”

“Not very well, although I think you knew that.”

Amity nodded sadly. “I haven’t either. I hate all this-this fighting for no reason. I wish I could just curl up with you, watch a movie or something, and forget about all of this.”

Luz slid closer to her. “It’s not too late for that. If the Emperor’s Coven surrenders or writes the treaty, maybe-maybe we can all have peace together.”

“You rebels need to surrender! You guys started all of this by killing Lilith!”

“We didn’t kill Lilith! I don’t know what happened, but none of the rebels I know would’ve done that!”

“Really? So you’re saying Lilith just randomly died?”

“No, I’m not! I don’t know what happened, but we didn’t kill her. Please, believe me!”

Amity frowned. “I can’t believe the words of a rebel. Luz, I can’t just abandon my entire life’s work over love!” She realized she was raising her voice, but didn’t care. “Luz, please!”

Luz scowled. “Should’ve known,” she muttered under her breath, just loud enough for Amity to hear. Suddenly, vines were pouring from a sheet of paper and curling around Amity’s leg, tying her to the ground. “You really want to fight?”

Luz shook her head, blinking back tears that turned her hazel eyes pale. “No, I don’t. But I don’t have a choice.” Amity inhaled and easily burned away the vines that bound her, leaping to her feet and dancing away until there were about 6 feet between them. “You ready?” Luz hissed, her voice taking on its cool, guarded tone again. “As I’ll ever be.” With those four words, their battle bagan.

“Abomination, rise!” An abomination shot from the ground, absorbing a flying glyph into its stomach. “Your glyphs can’t do much good if they can’t hit anything!” More glyphs shot into its purple body as it began to lumber toward her. Luz slammed a fifth glyph onto the ground and kicked it before the abomination could touch her, sending an ice pillar plunging into the abomination and igniting a glyph.

Suddenly, the abomination let out a low moan and stopped in place. After a moment, it began desperately scratching and tearing at its chest. “LUZ, what did you just do?!”

Luz grinned, although there was no joy in her hazel eyes. “Burning him from the inside. Soon that fire will touch another glyph and then,” Luz was about to demonstrate with her hands, but the abomination exploded into a cloud of purple smoke before she could. Amity pulled out Edgar protectively, but a glyph struck her on the arm anyway, vines wrapping it to the ground.

Amity barely managed to free Edgar and trace a huge spell circle before another glyph came whizzing by, striking and falling away from the huge purple shield that had just formed. Amity smiled and slammed Edgar’s golden hilt into the vines, trying to shove them away. When she realized that obviously wouldn’t work, she drew another circle, dropping a fireball onto it and burning it away.

Amity patted out the small embers and stood up, barely dodging a block of ice that shattered the shield and sending a huge fireball hurling at Luz. Luz slapped a glyph to the ground, an ice pillar diverting the flame around her, and then easily leapt onto it, giving her the high ground. Luz flung herself at Amity, arms wide, although Amity easily sidestepped it. Luz’s hand still managed to strike Amity’s chest, even more vines emerging and pulling her to the ground. 

Amity drew a circle with one hand to burn away the vines while smacking away glyphs with the other, eventually burning it all away and managing to stand up and fight again. “You need some more glyph variety! Abomination, rise!” A new abomination rose from the ground, absorbing more glyphs. This time, however, it allowed them to sink out of its arms and into its hands, allowing it to throw them (terribly) at her. 

Luz easily dodged huge bursts of dust from the ground where they landed and flung more glyphs, this time over the abomination, where Amity dodged, as the abomination grew closer and closer. Eventually, it grabbed her, wrapping her up before she could get any glyphs. “NononononononONONONONO!” She shrieked, struggling. While it slowly began to lumber back to Amity with its hostage, Luz was able to look around at the battle around them, and was horrified at what she saw.

Amity had captured Luz, the rebels were losing badly, and the Tower was completely untouched. “REBELS, RETREAT! I’M CAPTURED!” She managed to shriek at the top of her lungs before being pulled inside the abomination, where she went silent, her heart racing and thoughts screaming. The abomination slowed to a halt in front of Amity, who was wondering for a few moments about what to do with Luz, while an idea formed in Luz’s mind.

Suddenly, she could feel the abomination beginning to slowly move again, giving her the perfect opportunity to escape. Luz quietly and slowly shoved her weak nerd arm through the purple goop, eventually breaking it free. She then tapped the pulley system that ran under her arm and felt a fire glyph drop into her hand. ‘Engineering - 1, Amity - 0,’ she thought to herself, trying not to crack up at the mental image of a scoreboard. Luz knew if she left her arm out much longer, Amity would see, so she yanked the arm back in and took a deep breath. ‘This is going to hurt.’

Luz used all of the miniscule grip strength she had to squeeze the note and felt the small sheet transform into a fireball, burning her hands. Unfortunately, she had to hold onto the tiny fireball to keep it from going out, and allowed the heat to burn at her fingers. When she felt the abomination stop suddenly, she knew her plan was working, and managed to kick herself halfway out its back while Amity was trying to get it moving again. “YAAH! FIREBALL!” Luz slammed a bunch of random glyphs from her hands against its head and, as they lit up, managed to finally kick free, the whole abomination going up in a massive explosion.

With a flick of the wrist, a plant/binding glyph went flying into a startled Amity, allowing Luz to sprint away. “Stop right there!” Lilith shouted, running after her for a moment before realizing she couldn’t exactly help. Infuriated, Amity disintegrated the entire plant with a single spell and shoved herself to her feet, sliding onto Edgar. “We have a criminal to catch!”

Edgar’s huge white wings extended outward, pushing them into the air. Amity leaned forward, guiding it at a rapidly increasing pace and chasing Luz, who, despite having a headstart, could never outrun a palisman. Unfortunately for Amity, she just had to outsmart one, and Amity was suddenly wrapped up by curling magenta ribbons, binding Edgar’s wings together and sending them spiraling into the ground.

Amity was now even more infuriated and ripped away the binding spell, leaping to her feet and wielding her raven staff. She spun Edgar into a huge spell circle that instantly burnt away the brush around them and revealed Luz, who had been squatting inside a bush. “LUZ NOCEDA, YOU ARE THE SECOND-MOST WANTED WITCH IN THE BOILING ISLES, AND I AM HERE TO TAKE YOU IN!” She shouted, drawing another that lifted Luz from the ground in a glowing magenta outline. 

Luz had fear in her eyes, and for a second, Amity hesitated. “Amity, we both know you should let her go.” Lilith faintly whispered, but Amity now had the motivation of doing the opposite of everything not-Lilith says, and, keeping Luz levitating in the air, climbed onto the shoulder of her abomination. “Abomination, to the Conformitorium.” 

Luz had no choice but to hover in wait as her girlfriend dragged her away, struggling not to break down and cry. For the first time since coming to the Boiling Isles, Luz had no idea what to do next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, I went to Disney yesterday


	5. Molten Amber

It was dead silent inside the Owl House, the air still and bitter. The Battle for Oracle Tower seemed to hang over the once-merry crowd of rebels, who now looked truly downcast, with good reason. Boscha’s heart seemed to stop when she thought back to that battle and how the Emperor’s Coven had easily matched their magic and their tactics, pushing the rebels back. A vivid image appeared in her mind of the rebels being pushed back by the Emperor’s Coven and their leader being pulled away in the huge arms of a dark abomination, icy chills running down her spine like pouring water. Amity stood behind it, commanding the monster with amber eyes full of fury.

Everybody seemed too busy wallowing in their own misery to keep fighting, and as much as Boscha tried to change, she couldn’t stop that all-too-familiar hunger for power from creeping into her heart. Nobody else was stepping up to be leader, so why shouldn’t she? ‘Boscha, you’d be a great leader! You would probably be better than everybody else!’

‘Thanks, inner me!’ A second inner Boscha replied, materializing out of nowhere so she could high-five herself before she snapped back to reality. She glanced around the room one final time, making sure nobody else was going to step up, and walked up to the table, drawing her shoulders up as tall as she could. ‘You’ve got big shoes to fill, Boscha. Big shoes.’ The thought did nothing to boost her self-confidence, and when Boscha’s mouth opened, only a quiet eep came out, drawing no attention. 

‘How the hell did Luz do this?’ She inhaled again, drawing up her courage and shaking the butterflies from her stomach, and forced her vocal cords to squeak out, “Rebels, your leader has just been captured.” When only a few of them looked at her, and one of them was Willow, who she couldn’t count, she realized that she needed to speak louder. So, speak louder she did. “REBELS, YOUR LEADER, LUZ NOCEDA, HAS JUST BEEN CAPTURED!”

‘Well, that certainly worked.’ Everybody glanced up, mostly out of surprise from her loudness, and Boscha felt confidence rising to her heart and a smirk to her lips. ‘You got this, Boscha. POWER SPEECH TIME!’ 

“Luz would’ve wanted us to keep moving while she’s gone! We can’t just stop the whole war because Luz got captured! We must move on, and take a new tower! And luckily for us, the next tower is the least guarded! Potion Tower,” she shouted, placing a finger on the bright yellow thumbtack, and feeling the words flowing from her heart effortlessly. “It is not only the least guarded, but it is the form of magic I specialize in, and the form of magic that I believe will help us the most in freeing Luz!”

The rebels, who didn’t seem very enthused at all, gave a half-hearted cheer. Instinctively, Boscha looked to Willow, who gave her a big thumbs up and a warm smile that melted her heart (in a completely non-gay way haha no gay there nuh-uh). Boscha let out the breath she hadn’t known she was holding and grinned. “Now then, who here knows Potion magic?”

\----------------

Amity curled her fingers around the lever and shoved down using all of her muscle strength, watching as the bars finally descended from the ceiling with it. Luz was officially shut away in the cell, and Amity was finally able to release her spell and allow Luz to gently fall to the ground. “Oh boy, freedom.” Luz said bitterly, twisting away from the teal-haired witch to face the stone wall.

“Luz, don’t turn away from me.” Luz instead bent her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, curling up into a ball.

“Why not? It’s not like the wall can pretend to love me, betray me, fight me and then kidnap me! I’d much rather take my chances with it!” Amity’s heart shattered when she heard that, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Luz, I’m sorry,” she said through tears, Luz twisting around to look at her.

“NO, YOU’RE NOT! IF YOU WERE SORRY, IF YOU EVER LOVED ME, YOU WOULD LET ME FREE!” The words were broken up by occasional, small sobs.

“I do love you, but I can’t just let you go! This is my whole life! I’m the Emperor’s Coven’s leader! I can’t throw that all away!”

Luz felt rage boiling up in her blood as she shouted back, “GIVE ME ONE REASON YOU CAN’T.”

Amity’s eyes went wide when she thought about it and realized how few reasons she had. There was nothing she could think of except a gut feeling that it was the right thing to do and a burning hatred toward the rebels for killing the only truly maternal figure she had ever had. Unfortunately, it took her several minutes to process these thoughts into actual words, which was too long for Luz.

“EXACTLY!” Luz twisted back around to face the wall, hiding the tears that were, again, slowly and softly dripping from her eyes.

Amity sighed and turned away. “Goodbye, Luz.” Luz did not reply, but she could hear her quiet sobs echoing out of the room.

\----------------

Quite a while before that was happening, Boscha was leading her strike team to Potion Tower, having convinced Willow that, despite her lifeless arm, she was going to be fine in battle. ‘What exactly did Luz say to get this whole fight thing happening? Rebels, go? Rebels assemble? Rebels, fight?’

“Rebels, ATTACK!” She shouted after a moment, deciding that she was clearly not Luz and therefore didn’t need to do what Luz did. The rebels surged forward from their hiding spot to the tower, which was covered in plants and vines, similar to Plant Tower. Boscha noticed that all of the plants looked oddly familiar, and gasped when she realized that they were all common potion ingredients. She smirked as she identified oxenwart, a main ingredient in fog potions, and then sirenvine, which was important in sleeping potions, and finally dragonpoppies, which were what gave power potions their power.

Boscha shook her head out of her thoughts and wiped the smirk off her face when she saw that there was a battle going on around her. Fog was pouring all around the tower from someone’s potion, masking everyone in a yellowy haze. She gritted her teeth and felt around her belt for a specific potion, eventually identifying it by touch and drinking it, making the fog seem to vanish before her eyes. An idea began to form in her mind, and a smirk began to form on her lips. Boscha smirked and sprinted forward to the confused and blinded Guards on the tips of her feet, trying to be quiet. 

She reached up, ripped off a few pieces of oxenwart, squished them up, and dropped them into a potion, sending blue bubbles rising to the top. Then, dodging streams of flame effortlessly, she tossed in a few pieces of murkflower, transforming an ordinary sleeping potion into a sleeping fog potion. Boscha flung it against the ground and bounded away from the growing smog. Unfortunately, she misjudged the leap and landed right on her bad shoulder. 

“OW!” She shouted, biting her lip to stop herself from crying out again, and looked back at the rapidly spreading dark lavender fog. Boscha shoved herself up with her other arm and scrambled away before its stretching, wispy tendrils could reach her, tearing one of her fumbling teammates away from the sleep mist as well. She blinked a few times and drank a new potion, allowing her to see through the purple-blue fog as well to assess the guards.

The Guards surrounding the Tower were now all unconscious, she realized with a grin, and flung a third potion into the ground, sending fresh air shooting outwards and neutralizing the fogs. The sudden stillness and the end of the brief battle finally allowed her to look around at her allies, who were all fine, seeming relieved to have escaped the smoke. “Good job, rebels! The outer guards have be-been breached?” The sentences in her head warred, eventually merging into something that made no sense.

‘Damn it Boscha!’ She stomped on her foot in a fit of self-loathing and then yelped in pain when it hurt a surprising amount. ‘WHY CAN’T YOU DO ANYTHING RIGHT?!’ Boscha took a moment to catch her breath and clear her head before retaking her role as leader. “Rebels, let’s go inside!” ‘That didn’t come out right, but it was good enough, I guess.’

\----------------

Luz glared around her room, looking for something, anything, to get her out. Her eyes finally fell on the bed that extended from the wall, but more importantly, the furnishings, an idea beginning to form in her head. ‘Can using things as glyphs work?’ After quite a few minutes of confused wondering, she decided, ‘only one way to find out,’ and ripped the sheets off of the mattress. Luz gripped them tightly and twisted them around on the ground, creating the familiar shape of an Ice Glyph.

Luz breathed in deeply when she was done with the surprisingly large glyph and stomped on it sharply. Light ran around the thick sheets, which seemed to vanish into the ground, replaced by a huge pillar of ice that surged from the ground, ramming into the bars and snapping them. Luz shoved a fist into the air, overjoyed, as she hit the ice, sending it reversing into the floor. She now had a gap large enough to leap through and break free, but the guards outside could easily stop her.

Of course, Luz didn’t have time to worry about minor things, like the consequences of her actions, or the price of freedom, and instead burst through the bent bars, rolling shoulder-over-shoulder and quickly coming to a stop. She brushed herself off and bounced to her feet, a cheeky grin on her face, although a spear of fire blasting by her side quickly wiped it off.

Luz spun around to see her attacker, an Emperor’s Guard, who was clearly not happy about his only prisoner escaping. She traced another ice glyph on the ground in the dust that coated it quickly and slammed it, the rapidly-rising pillar diverting a new blast of flame around her. Luz glanced at the ice, finding that it sealed against the wall, leaving the guard with only have one way to chase after her.

She licked her fingers, almost gagging, and ran them over the floor, dust quickly gathering on the tips. Luz frowned at how disgusting her fingers looked as she pressed them into the shape of an ice glyph against the wall and waited for the Guard to cautiously approach. “AHA! Human!”

He didn’t even have the chance to draw a spell when he was rammed in the chin by another ice pillar, this one coming from the wall and knocking him out with ease. Luz grinned as she disguised herself in his Guard’s attire, which surprisingly fit. ‘Huh, I guess one size does fit all!’ When she saw the floor’s other guard returning, she instinctively raced forward, pretending to have just seen herself escape. “THERE’S BEEN A PRISON BREAK! GO GET THE WARDEN!”

The other Guard didn’t bother to inspect the scene further in his haste and ran down the stairs at full speed. Luz frowned when she realized the implications of that. ‘I can’t exactly go down the stairs now since the guards are down there, and I clearly can’t stay in place, because guards will be coming here, so up we go!’ She sprinted over to the stairs and took them two at a time, racing up to the roof.

\----------------

About 30 minutes before that was happening, Boscha had just taken the rebels’ fourth tower and had broken into its hidden chamber, discovering a huge cylinder full of glowing amber liquid. “Wow,” she whispered, pressing her fingers against the glass. To her surprise, it was warm and seemed to pulse as if it were a living being.

Boscha and a few other Potion specialists examined it. “It has the bubbles and consistency of a Power Potion,” one of them observed. 

“Yes, but it has the color and the smell of a fog potion,” another hissed back, sniffing deeply.

Boscha ignored them and grabbed a (very dusty) cup from a stack next to it, set it under a tap that protruded from the glass, and twisted its valve, allowing the liquid to pour into the cup, rapidly filling it up. She then quickly twisted the valve shut, gulped a breath, and swallowed the whole thing, only realizing in the moment before the sour liquid touched her throat that this may not have been a good idea. Fog potions were not drinkable, so if the second rebel had been right, this was not going to end well.

As strength and warmth surged through her body, she realized that it was definitely a Power Potion, and it was the most potent potion she had ever drank. “Well, it’s definitely a power potion.” And to demonstrate for the others, she scribbled a spell circle, producing a massive fireball that was slightly larger than her head, and fired it into the wall, destroying a massive chunk of stone in a huge explosion of smoke. 

“It’s clearly very strong,” one of them said as they all crowded around her.

“Hey, if you’re so interested in the potion, drink it yourself!” At that they all surrounded the potions, trying to all grab at the cups at the same time. Boscha realized with a jolt that if they armed themselves with the Power Potions, they could free Luz, and left the lower chamber with a command.

\----------------

Luz finally stumbled out of the stairs, gasping for breath, and looked around to regain her bearings. The roof was almost exactly like the lower levels, but with no Guards, prisoners, or walls. Suddenly, she began to hear vague shouts coming from the ground below, and peered over the fence. She could just barely make out the shapes of people running out of the forest, presumably having not found her, and someone meeting them.

Desperate for a better angle, she tore off the uncomfortably warm Emperor’s Guard outfit and scrawled it into an Ice Glyph. Luz leapt onto it and carefully maintained her balance as it plunged into the inky void above, giving her a perfect view of the Conformitorium, although she realized the witches’ shapes were too indistinct at that height. The trees seemed to form a perfect ring around the huge prison, occasional branches of the forest poking into the center.

Suddenly, her heart seemed to stop. Something seemed oddly familiar. ‘Wait a minute.’ It was symmetric, the trees forming two perfect outer circles around it all. ‘Where have I seen that before?’

And then, with another jolt, her brain kicked back into gear, figuring it all out. ‘IT’S A GLYPH!’ Luz gasped and covered her mouth in amazement, scrambling for something to write on, but she had nothing. Even her little glyph arm mechanism was gone, put with all the other contraband.

Luz took in a deep breath, committing the shapes to memory, and kicked the ice pillar back to the ground, scrambling down the stairs furiously. After a moment, she reached the floor below, where Contraband was kept. She rushed in, through the barrier, and grabbed the system, fitting it back under her arm where it belonged.

Luz scurried through the pile for a moment, eventually finding her notebook and pen. She scribbled down the glyph, hoping her memory was accurate, and slammed it into the ground. The glyph’s outline lit up like usual, signifying that the glyph was working, and it disintegrated, creating a shimmery dome around her. Her movement suddenly seemed slower as she struggled to get out, seeming to need twice as much effort as usual to move, before finally breaking free of the glyph’s reach. ‘Interesting. I’ll call that one the PRISON GLYPH!’ She tried to make her inner voice sound announcer-y.

Luz, overjoyed at learning the new spell (and having discovered that spells can come from man-made places, which she could use later), sprinted back down the stairs, having completely forgotten about her reasons not to go back down. As she raced through, some of the voices that wafted up began to sound oddly familiar, although she couldn’t place them, and didn’t care enough to try. SHE WAS FREE AGAIN! EVERYTHING WAS LOOKIN’ UP FOR HER! There’s no way things can go wrong from here!


	6. What Goes Bump in the Night

The sky was a pale blue hue, only broken up by cotton candy clouds and the only half-present butter-golden sun that was slowly sinking as Amity finally stepped out of the looming Conformitorium. Upon leaving, she took a moment to blink back the aggressive, silvery tears that always seemed to come after talking to Luz. She then wiped away the few tears that had escaped, blew a thick, brown strand of hair out of her eyes, and spun Edgar’s staff out of the bag. Lilith stepped off the wall she was leaning against as Amity let out a long, audible sigh. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing!” Amity growled, about to slide onto the silver staff when a voice began to approach her from the underbrush, the sound of crunching leaves following. As it got closer and closer from the forest and began to sound oddly familiar, Amity took her staff away and pointed it threateningly. “Who are y- Boscha?” She asked as the voice’s matching head burst from the forest, body following, and slumped over to catch her breath, only to shoot back upright at the sound of Amity’s voice. “Amity!” Boscha exclaimed, almost as if they were old friends.

“What?” She asked back sharply, realization of who their opponent was finally settling into both. Amity quickly readied a fight stance with Edgar, Boscha mirroring. ‘1-on-1? Easy. If I can beat her in Grudgby, I can beat her here.’

Lilith slid to the ground, popcorn materializing in her hands. She eagerly popped a few pieces into her gaping mouth as more rebels followed, easily outnumbering her. “Hey, Amity, I think it would be best to surrender!” Lilith called, but Amity ignored her as the same pesky strand of hair flopped down again. This time, she made no attempt at brushing it away, instead using Edgar’s sharp beak to scribble a spell circle into the air.

A huge pink shield materialized over her, blocking the various blasts that roared over it. Amity groaned and held it in place, struggling to keep the shield secure against the roaring attacks of rebels. She gritted her teeth and drew another spell circle with her free hand, a huge abomination’s arm rising from the ground and shoving several of the rebels back into the forest, managing to slap Boscha before another rebel dissolved it.

The shield was reduced to thin, drifting pink wisps of smoke as Amity straightened up, her eyes glowing a matching shade of pink and bursting with rage and magical power. She slammed the staff’s golden hilt into the ground, twelve abominations bursting from the earth in a semi-circle formation around her. Amity shoved the staff forward, sending the abominations lumbering into the crowd, the rebels that were shoved into the forest returning, only to hide back behind the trees again when they saw the huge abominations.

Amity’s knees suddenly felt like jelly under her, and she collapsed to the ground, the intense magic seeping from her body and leaving only an ache of exhaustion where power had once been. “Nice one, kid!” Lilith called to her, making her beam through the soreness. Amity lifted her drooping head up and looked up at the fight. Four of her abominations were already gone, and most of the remaining eight were clearly outmatched and losing.

‘All that for nothing,’ she grumbled as she forced her muscles to propel her upright and pick up the staff, reaching into some forgotten corner of her heart and tapping into what little energy remained. Amity cracked her knuckles before waving the staff in another spell circle, launching a huge fireball into the crowd of rebels. 

The blaze soared through the air in a graceful arc that hit nobody, barely even managing to light a few rebels’ outfits on fire. Amity swore and quickly materialized a second shield as the rebels struck back, more bursts of energy in all forms surging against it. She again struggled to maintain the wall against the fierce attacks, but after a moment or two, she had no need to, the guards surrounding the tall prison seeing her predicament and finally lining up in front of her.

Amity stumbled further behind the wall of guards, allowing the shield to dissipate and the guards to start fighting back. She fell to her knees and gagged, Lilith tossing her popcorn to the ground and sitting next to her. Her mentor’s reassuring, yet calming smile was the last thing Amity saw before passing out.

\---------------

Boscha flung the swirling dark indigo potion at the Guards, opaque lavender fog curling out from the shattered glass. This time, she had prepared Sleeping Fog Potions in advance. After a few moments of aimless defending while waiting for the fog to properly spread and then vanish, the guards joined Amity in blissful unconsciousness. Willow strolled next to her, a cute, small smile on her face and a tiny pile of Emerald Seeds in her palm.

Boscha awkwardly glanced at her, trying to ignore the fact that her heart was soaring like a trapeze artist and her stomach was full of butterflies as she looked up at her soft blue hair. ‘It would be so easy to just reach out and poke it. It would be just like a cloud, soft, and fluffy, and adorable, and-and-,’ she mused dreamily before snapping back to reality and shoving the thoughts away. Her and Willow were just friends, nothing more. Sure, she had kissed Willow that one day, but she didn’t even think Willow noticed, and she only did it to wake her up. 

Boscha remembered the kiss, feeling it on her lips. The impulsive kiss had really cemented her crush on Willow. She couldn’t exactly pinpoint when it had started, but she did know she had tried and failed many times before to confess her feelings. ‘You’ll tell her soon, Boscha.’ She thought reassuringly. After a huge sound emerged from the ground, Boscha realized she had been staring at Willow for much, much longer than she had meant to, and looked away to see a huge, carriage-like vehicle made of vines, bark, and flower. “Ta-daa!” Willow exclaimed in the most adorable way, and Boscha couldn’t help but grin when she saw Willow’s bright expression. 

“It looks… good,” she said, forcing the words to stop sticking to her throat. Then she remembered her role as leader and gestured for the rest of the rebels to follow her through the Conformitorium. “Onwards!” She shouted and raced in, leaving a few rebels behind to make sure everybody inside the carriage stayed inside. Boscha naturally took the lead, sprinting up the curving staircase and ignoring the shouts of guards, trusting that the rest of the rebels could handle anything that came their way. After all, they beat the great and powerful Amity Blight, and broke into the impenetrable fortress that was the Conformitorium! What could stop them now?!

As she ran, she could feel the adrenaline pumping in her veins with the roaring thump of her heart, acutely focused only on the step in front of her. Suddenly, when she was several floors up, another pair of feet were on the step, but she had no time to slow down, and her opponent was moving down fast as well. The rebel and the mystery person collided with a loud thump, knocking both sharply backward. Boscha’s good arm instinctively shot out and grabbed onto the handrail, swinging her to the side, while the other person landed on their butt.

Boscha, expecting her collider to be guard, scribbled a spell circle that blasted a fireball at them out of instinct, before finally looking up and identifying them as Luz. Luz also assumed her opponent was a guard and trapped Boscha against the wall in a tangled mess of vines, having easily dodged the flames. “Luz?!”

Luz quickly stopped stomping out the flames and jolted upright at the familiar voice. She quickly twisted around in surprise, greeting Boscha with a, “Hello!” After a moment of awkward silence, the events that had just transpired finally set into both of their minds and Luz quickly stepped down and helped free Boscha from the plant’s grip. “Why are you out here?” Boscha asked, standing up straight and stretching.

Luz seemed confused by the question. “What do you mean?”

“Why aren’t you in a cell?” Boscha asked, equally confused .

Luz fake scoffed. “I can handle myself! You guys doubted me, didn’t you!” She called down to the rest of the rebels, who had accumulated behind Boscha. Boscha smirked. “Either way, it’s good to have you back. I don’t think I could’ve led for much longer.” She added the last part in a whisper so only Luz could hear.

She nodded, a playful grin on her face. “Well, you guys have me now, and I don’t plan on getting kidnapped again. Now can we please get out of this horrible place?” 

It was Boscha’s turn to nod and call down to the rebels, “Well, Luz has been rescued! We can go back now!”

The rebels began to jog back down the stairs, carefully stepping around the bodies of unconscious guards. “So, Boscha, how have things been without me?”

“You’ve only been gone for, what, two hours?, so nothing’s really happened. Oh yeah, we took another tower.” Luz nodded along and hummed in agreement.

\---------------

Willow Park stepped forward and took a deep breath. ‘You can do this, Willow! You just have to go talk to your friend-turned-enemy-turned-friend-turned-war opponent! Easy!’ She told herself as she waved a hand in front of the carriage, sending a segment of vine tearing free of the carriage and becoming a ramp. She climbed up and felt it retreating behind her, more branches swirling over it and sealing it back into the wall. Inside the massive chamber, vines and bark extended from the ceiling in bars that trapped the guards in cells. In each cell was a long, soft bed of vines to rest on, as well as a ‘toilet’ of bark. Just because they were in a prison didn’t mean it was an inhumane prison, although each guard had wore a ball of vine around their hands, stopping them from magic.

She walked past, looking at each of them sheepishly. She hated seeing plants being used to hurt people, but she cared more about her friends and wanted to protect them. Willow finally came to a stop next to Amity, sitting on a soft ball-like seat that rapidly formed beneath her. “Hey, Willow,” Amity said awkwardly. “Funny story,” her voice trailed off.

Willow narrowed her eyes at Amity. She had expected this to be much harder, but rage instantly pumped through her. “It doesn’t sound so funny to me! Let’s go over what you’ve done here! Yooouuuu fought your girlfriend/my best friend and lost, then you attacked her and lost again, then you sent a bunch of people to attack her and lost for a third time, then you went with a bunch of people to attack her and then KIDNAPPED HER, AND THEN YOU LOCKED HER UP IN JAIL AND LEFT HER ALONE! THEN YOU ATTEMPTED TO FIGHT ALL OF HER BEST FRIENDS!” Willow’s voice rose higher and louder as she went, venting all her accumulated anger at Amity.

Amity nervously nodded but stopped when she suddenly felt her own loathing surging up inside her, filling her throat with acid. “Yeah, well you and your rebels who are her BEST FRIENDS KILLED MY MENTOR AND STOLE PROPERTY OF THE EMPEROR, KNOWING FULL WELL IT WOULD INSTIGATE A WAR!”

Willow’s eyes flickered dangerously green in response. “NONE OF US KILLED YOUR ‘PRECIOUS MENTOR’ WHO CAN DO NO WRONG, BUT YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT THAT, DO YOU? YOU DON’T WANT TO FIGURE OUT WHO DID IT, YOU JUST WANT TO ATTACK EVERYONE AND HOPE FOR THE BEST!”

Amity was speechless, but Willow was far from it, and her eyes began to flash again and again as she went into a tirade of pure rage. Eventually, her eyes stopped flashing at all, instead becoming solid green as her rant trailed off. The vines suddenly collapsed in around her, forming what seemed almost like a cocoon, spitting everyone but Willow.

Startled, Amity scrambled to her feet, knowing whatever was about to happen couldn’t be good, and sprinted away, snatching Edgar from the dirt and rapidly taking off. “I do not want to see what’s going to happen,” Lilith lamented.

On the ground, the guards were embracing their new freedom and running away at full speed, completely forgetting about the Conformitorium. After a few minutes of the vines pulsing and glowing, giving all the guards ample time to escape, they burst open, new rows upon rows of plant matter sprouting out of the ground and taking the shape of a monstrous Willow that looked at least 100 feet tall. The plant beast let out a bloodcurdling roar and began to stomp away.


	7. Déjà Vu

Luz stepped out of the Conformitorium and deeply inhaled the fresh evening air. It smelled almost exactly like it had two hours ago, earthy and warm. The smell was surprisingly cozy and homey, but it definitely did not smell that forest-y before, she realized. Luz’s eyes shot open, showing her the giant, monstrous Willow made of plant mass that was storming away in huge, booming footsteps. “Gojira!” She shouted, jabbing a finger at it and imagining herself as a Japanese police chief, ordering her officers to fire at a huge reptile.

Luz shook the image out of her mind and turned to look at the rebels. “Does that plant monster belong to any of you?” She asked hopefully. In an ideal world it would be one of theirs and she wouldn’t have to deal with that monster, but when no response came, her face fell. “Alright, second question: Does anybody know where Willow is?”

Again, she practically begged for them to respond, but nothing came. “Okay, rebels, let’s go tame Biollante.” A few of the rebels exchanged confused glances, but Luz didn’t have the time to explain the complex lore of the Heisei Godzilla films and instead watched the monster’s path for a moment before taking off into a sprint. The rebels followed without questioning, no matter how much any of them wanted to.

After several minutes of running, they realized that even though Willow was stomping at a slow pace, her massive legspan meant she could easily outrun them. Luz skittered to a halt, panting heavily, and turned to look at the others, who also needed to catch their breath. “This isn’t going to work,” she spluttered between gasps. When she finally had enough oxygen to think properly, a vague guess of an idea appeared in her mind. 

“Hey, Viney, can you call us a fleet of griffin?”

Viney shook her head. “Not how it works, Luz. Bigger beasts like griffin can only be summoned once you’ve formed a bond, but I can get Puddles. Why?”

Luz inwardly groaned. “How many people can Puddles carry?”

“Um, four? Luz, answer the question!” 

Luz ignored the second part and pointed at Boscha. “You are coming, and so are…” Her voice trailed off as she closed her eyes and flailed her arm around for a bit. “YOU!” She flung her eyes open and saw Emira standing in the path of her finger with a smirk. “Everybody else, go home or something! I don’t care!”

The rest of the rebels walked away, grumbling about something. “Luz, TELL ME YOUR DANG PLAN!”

“It’s not so much a plan as a vague idea. Basically, you’re a Beastkeeper, and griffins can fly faster than Willow can walk, right? Therefore, Puddles can fly us on over and let us save the day!”

“That’s not much of a plan,” Viney responded.

“Well, it’s the best I could come up with! I’m sorry, okay?! I’m not some kind of grand mastermind or epic leader! I wasn’t prepared for this! I came to the Boiling Isles this summer so I could relax, learn some magic, and hang out with my girlfriend and my best friends! I just wanted to relax, but then this war comes along and rips everything up! I never wanted this war, but it came anyways, and I thought if I took control, maybe, just maybe, I could stop all this! But no, terrible things like this just keep happening and dragging me farther and farther from the end! Dios mio! AND STOP LOOKING AT ME WITH THAT-THAT PITY STARE! WE HAVE A JOB TO DO, AND WE’RE GOING TO DO IT! VINEY, CALL PUDDLES RIGHT NOW!”

Speechless, Viney shoved the whistle into her mouth and blew. After several minutes, giving the rebels time to process what Luz had just said, Puddles’ shape began to rapidly appear as she dove to meet them. Pointed black talons instantly tore into the ground and dragged her to a halt, allowing her powerful legs to bring her upright. Viney scratched behind her ear and nuzzled into her feathers, cooing the whole time. She quickly stopped and blushed when she heard Emira burst into laughter. “Emira!”

Viney dragged her onto the beast’s powerful back. “Ready to fly?” She asked sarcastically, quickly sobering Emira up. “That’s what I thought.” Viney tugged Boscha up behind her and then Luz even further back on the beast’s body. She leaned over and whispered something into her ear, her hand seemingly absentmindedly drawing a spell circle. Suddenly, Puddles’ powerful wings fluttered and then burst into action, carrying them into the air.

The griffin and her passengers quickly broke free of the canopy and soared into the air, giving them a perfect view of the monstrous Willow and her trail of plant-laden destruction. She was standing next to one of the untaken towers with vines extending from her arms, fighting the Guards and wrapping them to walls. 

“What is she doing?”

Emira leaned her head over Viney’s shoulder for a better view (and the chance to kiss Viney on the cheek). “It looks like she’s fighting!”

Luz nodded and leaned around Boscha, who was also struggling to get a better view. “Anybody have any idea what to do?”

“I think- yeah, she just took that tower for us! If she’s gonna keep doing that, maybe we should just leave her to it and let her win this war?”

Luz glared at her. “I’ve seen her wild magic before. It’s driven by emotions, and she is in no shape to talk about them, so she’s just going to wallow! The longer we let this last, the harder it’ll be to bring her back!”

Emira tsked and thought about it. “What do you think we should do?”

“Uhm, go into her mind?” Luz said the first idea that popped into her head, but the more she thought about it, the better a plan it seemed. “Yeah, go into her mind!”

“Who exactly would send you in? Also, who of us would go?” Viney asked as Puddles’ talons sank into dark jade vines and landed. Luz recognized the building as Plant Tower, which was in surprisingly good shape after their last venture there.

“I could, to your first question,” Emira offered, surprising Luz and shaking her from her thoughts. “You can do that?”

“Of course! I taught myself the spell one day when I first heard it existed! At the time, I just figured it would make a good prank someday, and I was right! Partially.”

“Okay. That still doesn’t answer the second question.”

“Well, I obviously can’t go in, since I’m doing the spell, and I think you should stay out here too to take care of Puddles.”

“And you,” she retorted affectionately. “Ew,” Luz said, grinning and covering her eyes with her hands. 

Boscha stamped her foot. “We’re wasting time here!”

“Mittens and her friends ruin everything,” She said back, rolling her eyes. Emira then produced a bell that she promptly handed to Luz and drew the spell. “Don’t die!” She called as Boscha and Luz vanished into golden orbs that whirled through the thick mass of vines. After they were out of sight, Viney looked at Emira with twinkling and mischevious eyes.

“Don’t give me that look!”

Viney smirked and stepped closer. “What look?”

Emira groaned. “You know what look!”

Viney took another step. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’re gonna distract me from the-the bell-y-thingy!” Emira took a step back against the short wall that rimmed the roof, matching Viney’s step forward.

“You want to be distracted,” she teased, before stepping all the way forward and leaning right in front of Emira’s face.

Emira quickly gave in under Viney’s gaze. “Fine,” she murmured, eyes darkening as she bridged the small gap between them and crashed their lips together.

\---------------

Golden orbs twirled down from the sky, eventually weaving and flowing together into the Luz and Boscha’s shapes. “Whoa,” Boscha gasped as she landed on thick, swirling golden vines that ran over the ground. “There are so many plants!”

Luz hummed her agreement and bent over, inspecting the vines. Most were either dark violet or golden, but jade green vines occasionally interlinked the thick, almost web-like structures. “There weren’t these many before,” Luz pointed out, studying the vines. “I mean, I guess it makes sense, she is all monstrous and vine-y now.”

After finishing her ‘assessment’, she stood up and leapt into a memory. “I wonder what the colors mean?” Boscha thought aloud.

Boscha scanned the vines, looking for a clue. “Whew, okay, Boscha! Let’s think about this. There’s yellow, purple, and a few green. What does that mean?”

She paced Willow’s mind, poking and prodding at the plants. After several minutes of aimless wandering, she fell to the ground and groaned. “Willow, how do I fix you?!” 

A vine curled over her eyes, a familiar yellow hue painted over it. “Wait a minute!” She tore it away and leapt to her feet, grabbing another golden vine. While holding it to her face, she drew a huge spell circle, matching the colors. “Well, that isn’t good.”

She grabbed a pink vine and gasped when her brain matched it. That was Amity’s spell color! “OH NO!” Boscha gasped aloud, instantly recognizing the green as Willow’s own a moment later.

“What?” Luz asked, poking her head from a memory.

“N-nothing!” She stammered back, not wanting to admit it was mostly her and Luz’s girlfriend’s fault, especially knowing Luz wasn’t in the best of moods. 

“O-kay! Tell me if you find her Inner Willow!”

“Inner Willow?”

Luz sprang from the memory and caught herself in a roll. “In every mind, there’s like a-a gatekeeper to their emotions,” she said, waving her hand and hoping it was articulate enough. “It’s supposed to look like Willow, but last time it was a big fire guy-thing. I don’t know.” Satisfied with her explanation, she leapt back into another memory, leaving Boscha alone to resume her wandering.

The three-eyed witch strolled through Memory Lane, leaving no vine, corner, or stone unturned. Eventually, she noticed there were more and more vines the way she was walking. Where it had previously been merely uncomfortable to walk through, it was now like wading through drying concrete, which Boscha took as a sign. She began to speed up, climbing up the vine mountain and quickly struggling her way to where all vines intersected into one huge, glowing, cocoon. Golden, magenta, and green light shone from within as it pulsed with a steady rhythm, almost like a heart.

\---------------

Willow sat in a round emerald chamber, vines reaching in from the walls and connecting to her arms. Her eyes were solid green, and her mind was empty of all thought except for her swirling emotions and an instinct that guided her. Subconsciously, she must’ve reasoned that in this state, she couldn’t fight her emotions but she could at least do some good.

Suddenly, the monster found it was directly in front of Oracle Tower, the object of the most pain. Willow roared and fired waves of vines from her arms, curling them like tentacles around her surprised and unwilling opponents. She gently pressed each onto the wall, sealing them with vines, and then sent rows of more vines snaking through the floors, wrapping around the guards and attaching them as well to the stone wall. 

Plant-Willow stood up sharply and spun away, ready to take on the Beast-Keeping Tower. Before she went, she made sure that no guards were escaping and no rebels were captured on accident. Finally ready for more action, she stormed away, back through the forest. Meanwhile, at Plant Tower, Emira finally pushed herself away from Viney, as much as she didn’t want to. “What?”

“Ahem!” She jabbed a thumb at the lack of monster that they were supposed to be watching. “What if Luz needed to escape?”

Viney pouted, puffing out her lower lip. “I’m sure she’d be fine for another few minutes.”

Emira could feel her normally steel will bending under the power of puppy-dog eyes, but she forced herself to remain strong. “What if she’s not?”

“Ugh, fine. But we are picking up where we left off later,” she said, pulling Emira by the hem of her tunic onto Puddles’ back with a wink.

\---------------

Boscha turned around. “LUZ!” She shrieked at the top of her lungs, easily catching the human’s attention and pulling her from the memory she was in. “WHAT?!” Luz shouted back in the same unnecessary voice. “COME HERE!”

Luz sprinted over and scrambled up the tall hill. “Yes, your majesty?”

“Look, for titan’s sake!” She furiously gestured at the beating cocoon and ignored the insult. “I think Willow’s in there!”

“Whoa,” Luz gasped, touching it tentatively. 

That was not a good idea.

Jade vines burst from the cocoon and wrapped around her hand, yanking her into the surprisingly soft cocoon and slowly pulling her in. Luz struggled against it, shoving and pulling against the vines. “Boscha, help!”

The call shook her from where she stood, shocked, and sent her reeling forward, clasping her hands over Luz’s forearm and pulling against her. Boscha’s strength was not enough, though, and even as she leaned back to use her feet as brakes, Luz was up to her neck. Boscha was completely diagonal when her feet were suddenly being pulled in. After a moment of sliding and struggling to balance, Boscha was torn through the wall.

The two of them landed in a massive chamber much larger than the cocoon they had entered, with seemingly endless walls of repeating stone bricks and occasional flowers peeking through. Hovering in the center was Willow, vines extending from the walls and wrapped around her arms. A fifth tangle of vines seemed to press into her forehead. Her eyes were glowing a familiar shade of lime-green, and Boscha couldn’t stop herself from brushing a stray lock of blue hair from Willow’s forehead.

Luz stepped closer to Willow, but leapt back at the sudden crunching sound under her foot. “Oh no!”

She bent over and picked up Willow’s light blue glasses, which were now cracked and shattered. “Oof, Boscha, can you fix these?”

Boscha examined them with her three eyes and then snapped her fingers. “I think so.” She drew a spell circle, hoping for the best, and watched as amber light slowly flowed over the thin cracks in the glass. The light eventually made its way to the frame and curled around it, glowing more intensely once it was complete. After a moment, it intensified even more and then vanished along with any trace of the cracks, leaving Luz with a pair of normal glasses. “Hooray!”

Luz’s infectious smile reached her, but she ignored it and snatched the spectacles from Luz’s hand before she could do them any further damage. “Hey!”

Boscha brushed her response off and slid the glasses onto Willow’s nose. ‘Where they belong,’ she added mentally.

Golden light of a matching hue began to run down the vine that met Willow’s head, leaving golden vine everywhere it touched. When it met her forehead, her eyes took on the yellow glow for a moment. Then all light vanished from her eyes, allowing her usual hazel pupils to return. The other vines slowly unfurled from her arms, dropping her to her knees, and snaked back into the walls.

Willow’s body beginning to heave. ‘What is she- is she crying?’ Luz stepped forward, but Boscha placed a hand on her shoulder. Luz turned to face her, but was affixed with a look that said, ‘I got this,’ even though Boscha totally didn’t ‘got this’. Luz nodded and stepped away while Boscha sat on the ground next to Willow. She intertwined Willow’s arms with her own and pulled the blue-haired witch into a warm hug, Willow’s head rolling into the nape of her neck.

“Willow, what’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?! Everything’s wrong! The Emperor is fighting us and his Guards outnumber us, Amity hates me, the world is crumbling around me, and to top it all off, I’m not good enough for you! I’m not good enough for anyone! I can never do anything right!” Her quiet sobs gave way for her spilling all of her emotions. Boscha’s heart almost gave out from their proximity and Willow’s sadness, but she willed it to stay alive while she strung together the right words to calm down Willow.

“Willow, look at me.” Willow looked at her, and she mentally checked that off her list. “I promise you, as long as you keep bein’ you, you will always be good enough for me.” Willow’s gaze shifted from her anger to hope.

“Really?” She whispered, so quietly that Boscha wasn’t fully certain she hadn’t imagined it.

“Yes. I lo-“ Boscha cut herself off, hoping Willow would just hear the first word and ignore what came after. Willow, however, did not ignore it and took a leap of faith about the word’s meaning. She lifted up her head, gazed into Boscha’s eyes, and kissed her.

Boscha was breathless, and her heart was flying, and her brain was going insane, and is this heaven because she never wanted to leave, and then Luz cleared her throat and the moment was ruined, and dang it Luz! Boscha made sure to stick her tongue out at Luz when they got to their feet. “As adorable as you two are, you’re kinda going on a rampage throughout the Boiling Isles, so I think we should get out of here. You two will have plenty of time to-“ she made a crude hand gesture to demonstrate kissing, “out there.”

\---------------

Viney leaned forward sharply. “Puddles, full speed!” Willow had already taken Beast-Keeping Tower and was now easily capturing Illusion Tower before their very eyes, flinging flowers and vines at guards. Suddenly, golden sparkles began to drift out of Willow’s eyes, reminding Emira of her task. The teal-haired witch inhaled a deep breath and drew the spell circle, pulling the sparkles in front of them. The tiny stars swirled together into two forms that quickly gained color and became Luz and Boscha.

“HooraaAAAAAAHHHHH!” Luz shrieked as her and Boscha began to plummet from the sky. Viney gasped and quickly leapt into action (figuratively). “Puddles, dive!”

Puddles obeyed, but they weren’t gaining speed quickly enough to rescue them. Emira didn’t even have time to draw a spell circle when Luz and Boscha slammed into the bouquet of massive flowers- wait, flowers? Emira looked up, startled, to see Plant Willow holding them out in her huge hands, having just materialized them. They sighed with relief as Plant-Willow set them down on the ground and began to shrink, eventually becoming a tiny dark blue flower with a light, cream-colored center in real-Willow’s hands.

Willow stepped through the plants, where Luz was springing happily in the bouncy flowers, and slid her new flower behind Boscha’s ear. “Did I miss something?” She could hear Emira ask in the background, but she ignored it and smiled softly.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PRANKT! YOU THOUGHT I WAS UPDATING THIS FIC AGAIN! HAHAHAHAHAAHAAAAAAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA *spiral into madness*

School and life has gotten in the way of me continuing this fic quite a bit, but now I think I'm finally ready to get back to work. I reworked some of the remaining plans and made the probably wise choice to revise the existing chapters before moving forward, since there are some things in there that I am not happy with/some of the chapters didn't turn out how I would like. Be patient with me, okay folks? 

Also, here's a teaser for you to tide you guys over. It's not edited, so the scenes will probably look different in the end, and all mistakes will be mine.

===The Breaking Point Part 2 Trailer===  
The Emperor of the Boiling Isles chuckled darkly behind a curved golden mask. “Oh, you innocent child.” His voice was deep and powerful, with the brittle undertone of a person weary with age. “I never wanted to hurt anybody. I came to help you. And help you, I will.” He allowed another grim chuckle, twirling his jagged golden gauntlet almost carelessly.

\----------

Amity fired a ray of white lightning toward the rebels, the sudden motion springing everyone into action. The Emperors Guard began to strike, abominations and huge vines flinging themselves at the opponents. The rebels, who were much smaller in number, began to use their own tactics, illusions blasting away spells and crystals shielding witches. 

The Emperor’s Guard moved in perfect sync, firing spells with practiced precision and effortlessly pushing back the rebels, although they were putting up a valiant effort. Chunks of earth, ice, and abomination swirled up alike, matching the blows from the trained Coven. Amity fell back into the ranks, scanning for familiar faces (namely Luz), although she met none. ‘Where are they?’

\----------

Luz darted between trees, quickly flicking sharp glances behind her to make sure nobody was following. Owlbert easily lifted her over thick branches and through sharp canopies, his wings guiding them wherever they wanted to go. Suddenly, the forest leveled off, and she was exactly where she needed to be. Belos’ castle rose into the sky before her, its grey stone piercing fluffy clouds.

\----------

“You see, Earth is so cruel. So… unkind to its people. Life there is uncaring, cold.” Belos’ cyan eyes fixed themselves on her, his gaze unwavering in its intensity. “But I don’t need to tell you that, do I? You know. You’ve seen it. Seen how they cast out anybody who’s different. How they abandon them.” His voice was softer now, almost polite. “You had potential here to become a witch, finally fitting in.”

\----------

Luz was truly falling now, the sand far below rapidly growing bigger. Her mind kicked into overdrive and time seemed to slow down, one question forcing itself into the forefront of her mind. ‘What do I do?’ Glyphs whirled through her head, as if they would do her any good, pressure building on her lungs. The pounding of her heartbeat grew louder and louder, ideas (none functional) whirling together into a hazy blur. The ground grew closer and closer, her heart beat louder and louder, her brain failing to save her, and then… nothing.

\----------

Amity felt nauseous. Memories of recent times appeared, unwelcome, of her being truly despicable to everybody. To her friends, to the rebels, to ‘Lilith’, to Luz- she had done so much wrong. The nagging voice in her head grew louder, telling her how much of a failure she is, how she had screwed everything up. The teal-haired witch found herself walking back towards a source of comfort: Belos’ tower, where she could at least feel welcome.

\----------

“But you RUINED IT!” Belos’ voice rose to a yell. “YOU HAD TO MESS IT UP!” He slammed his gloved fists down with a thunderous clash. “YOU CAME TO MY WORLD AND TRIED TO TAKE IT! WHAT SHOULD I HAVE EXPECTED FROM A HUMAN!” Belos roared, before running his hands over his head and taking a deep, audible breath. “But the titan’s bigger plans will surely allow for you within them,” he said after a moment, voice cooler than ever before.

\----------

The world was all white around Luz, nothing distinguishing ground from sky, and she was floating. “Where am I?” Suddenly, she saw it. A great, scarred beast with an almost-human body and jagged limbs was hovering before her. The creature began to move, twisting in midair and stiffening as it turned to look at Luz. As soon as it was facing her, she recognized it. “Are you the Titan?!"

**Author's Note:**

> I'll try to update daily, but I probably won't succeed at that, so bear with me


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